Omnichannel

Dubai, India -- A Monday report by Reuters said that French retailer Auchan has entered into a franchise agreement with Max Hypermarket, India.

Max operates 13 hypermarkets in India, which will be rebranded as Auchan stores in early 2013.

The pair said they plan to open 12-15 new stores annually across India. Because Max Hypermarket India Ltd is controlled by retail and hospitality company Landmark Group, which operates hypermarkets under the Max brand only in India and therefore is not restricted under foreign ownership regulations.

San Francisco -- Fluid Inc., a digital agency and creator of on-demand, e-commerce solutions for retailers, has teamed up with specialty retailer Charlotte Russe to launch the brand’s newly redesigned e-commerce web and mobile sites.
 

By Craig LaRosa, [email protected]

A consumer walks into a store, tries on a pair of running shoes, and then hops online to buy them from someone else—10% to 15% cheaper. It’s called “showrooming” and it has a lot of businesses scrambling.

Specialty retailer Express expects to have its first stores in Latin America open by year end.

New York -- Macy’s Inc. is rolling out a new order fulfillment system that lays the groundwork for same-day delivery services by leveraging the proximity of its physical store locations to its customers, according to a report on the Huffington Post.

To date, 280 stores have been outfitted to provide shipping services.

Online retail giants Amazon and eBay are moving in the same direction, the report said.
 

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation, in partnership with its member companies, has launched a new initiative to address the challenges and opportunities of mobile retailing.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- ForeSee, a provider of technology-driven customer experience analytics, announced that it is working with leading multichannel retailer HSN to measure and analyze the customer experience of its mobile-optimized site and mobile apps with ForeSee's new Mobile On-Exit technology.

SEATTLE — Zoomingo, the shopping discovery app that helps consumers find the best deals in their local stores and online, has launched a new "back to school" section that lets parents and young adults find the best deals for their back to school essentials, whether they are on the go from their smartphone or from the convenience of their home computer. The new back to school section is available both in English as well as in Spanish through a newly released Spanish language version of Zoomingo's Android application.